GUN CONTROL AND WHERE DO CRIMINALS GET GUNS

From: http://townhall.com/columnists/brucebialosky/2016/08/28/untitled-n2210220
"The anti-gun people want to limit law-abiding citizens from getting guns and now ammunition.  The pro-gun people repeat over and over again “If you out law guns, only outlaws will have guns.”  They evidence that by activities that occur in European countries or that mass shootings typically occur in gun-restricted areas in the U.S.  What is the truth?  Where do criminals get their guns?

Surprisingly, there is no federal database or statewide databases that track these actions.  This is despite the fact they often recover guns from crime scenes or subsequent arrests of the offending party.  If the gun has a serial number, it can be traced to the federal database.  If the serial number is ground off, one can assume the gun was acquired illegally.  The studies done would be more comprehensive if guns left at the scenes of crimes or used by criminals killed in the process of committing a crime were included in the surveys to provide a more comprehensive picture.

The study [by Philip Cook] https://d3uwh8jpzww49g.cloudfront.net/sharedmedia/1508093/ccjstudy.pdf
starts by referring to other studies done and then moved on to their study.  The authors made this statement about acquisition of guns: “Adults who are entitled to possess a gun are more likely than not to buy from an FFL (Federal Firearm Licensee).  On the other hand, those who are disqualified by age or criminal history are most likely to obtain their guns in off-the-books transactions, often from social connections such as family and acquaintances, or from “street” sources such as illicit brokers or drug dealers."

Most criminals obtain their guns from different markets than most law-abiding citizens.  Instead of trying to regulate law-abiding citizens, go after the illegal gun trade.